New bus joins Amberley Museum’s fleet

Known as 481, the well-preserved Bristol RE was originally one of ten to be bought new by Southdown in October 1970.

Privately owned locally, it recently came up for sale and is now joint owned by Nigel Hartley and Steve Day, two museum volunteers.

The aim is for 481 to go into regular service within the museum, as soon as the volunteer drivers have received training.

This will allow the Bristol VR, sponsored by Dark Star Brewery, to have some time off for much-needed maintenance, as the two buses will share the regular museum service.

The museum also houses a large collection of much older Southdown buses, mainly owned by the Southdown Omnibus Trust, which are not able to be used on a daily basis but do run for school workshops and for the popular bus shows.

This years, the big bus show in September, a regular feature in the annual museum calendar, will be the final event to celebrate 100 years of the Southdown Motor Services. The museum will be welcoming a wide range of visiting buses.

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